Individual constraints for information structure

Abstract

This paper, in the context of multilingual MT, proposes the use of ICONS (Individual CONstraintS) to add a representation of information structure to MRS. The value of ICONS is a list of objects of type info-str, each of which has the features CLAUSE and TARGET. The subtypes of info-str indicate which information structural role is played by the TARGET with respect to the CLAUSE. This proposal is designed to support both the calculation of focus projection from underspecified representations and the handling of multiclausal sentences.